Newmarket petition launched to stop animal sales in pet stores

Activists organize to fight puppy mills

YorkRegion.com
November 1, 2018
Kim Zarzour

Animal activists have launched a campaign to change local bylaws after discovering a retail store that was pushed out of Richmond Hill for selling cats and dogs has moved to a new location in Newmarket.

Emiley Sheppard, who operates a dog daycare and clothing line in East Gwillimbury, says she was moved to start a petition after her husband noticed a wall of caged pets for sale at a store on Mulock Street.

“My husband walked into the store to kill time before his haircut. He saw the dogs and was appalled and had no idea this was legal.”

Chad Sheppard said there were 25 puppies in glass cages, up to five per cage.

A store employee told him they were not provided with outdoor exercise, Sheppard said.

A native of Newmarket, she called the town’s animal control and was “outraged” to learn the municipality allows pet stores to sell animals.

The Canadian Club Kennel Club's code of practice forbids its breeders from selling dogs through retail stores because puppy mills -- “substandard dog breeding operations” that rely on "erroneous or falsified certificates of registration, pedigrees and/or genetic background" -- are a primary source for pet stores' animals.

A growing number of municipalities are restricting retail store animal sales, including Vaughan, Georgina, Barrie, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Ajax, Oakville, London, Wasaga, Mississauga, Kingston, Cambridge, Waterloo, Stratford and Oshawa.

Richmond Hill enacted a ban on animal sales from commercial breeders in 2016 after activists brought local retailer Pet’s Friend, to council’s attention.

Residents came forward in 2015 saying they witnessed and purchased unhealthy pets from the retailer and accusing the store of sourcing animals from Quebec puppy mills.

At the time, store owner Elif Parnian said that while her “top breeder” is located in Quebec, she purchases only from breeders she knows and trusts and her animals are healthy and well cared for.
A bylaw banning pet sales would put her out of business, she told Richmond Hill council.

"I’ll go bankrupt; have to go on welfare. I’m not a bad person. I’m not the only one in the GTA selling pets.”

Council heard from multiple delegations, then voted to restrict pet store sales to animals from registered municipal shelters and rescues.

Pet’s Friend, and any other stores that sold animals in town, were given a year to transition their business.

Now the store appears to have moved from the Richmond Hill location to Mulock and Yonge, selling pet supplies and, along one wall, dogs and cats priced between about $1,600 and $2,300, with a sign forbidding any photographing or videotaping without permission.

YorkRegion.com attempted to speak with the store owner but was told “I have no comment for you. Anything you need to know about us you can find online.”

Rita Goverde, of Aurora, said she was shocked to see the puppies in wall cages, as many as five in one pen.

“You used to see those kinds of stores in all the malls but I didn’t think anyone did that anymore. It was heart-wrenching.

“I asked where she got them from, which breeder and do they come with the paperwork, and she told me they were Pet’s Friend’s own breeder. I told her that makes me suspicious because if it’s a reputable breeder, you’d think they would proudly advertise this …. I was confused about why they were so secretive.”

When she began to warn others in the store to research breeders before buying, she says she was asked to leave.

The Town of Newmarket does not require sellers to have registration papers or vaccinations (other than the provincially mandated rabies shot), nor does it regulate pet store sales, according to spokesperson Philip Zambito.

Newmarket Coun. Kelly Broome expects the issue of pet stores will be dealt with by the new council as part of the regulatory bylaw review set for February.

“It will be our second order of business, right after cannabis,” she said, adding she hopes a new bylaw will "help chip away at the problem of pet overpopulation, puppy mills and breeders who raise and sell animals in unethical, unhealthy conditions.”

When she learned the town allows animal sales in stores, Sheppard started an online group, York Region Animal Advocates, and a petition that had garnered more than 2,500 signatures at the time of publication.

She is hoping the petition will encourage Newmarket to follow the lead of Georgina that has a lengthy 56-page bylaw dealing with kennels, pet stores and dog daycare.

“In order to get litters of puppies and kittens in for sale, pet stores turn to puppy mills,” the petition reads. “These puppies come without registration or papers, and very little or no vaccinations. They are sold for high prices as 'designer' breeds. Rarely are the puppies the actual breed they are being sold as. Most are sick due to no vaccines or improper care and environment. These animals live inside a store setting in glass cages until they are sold.”

Bob Kwapis, Newmarket councillor in whose ward Pet’s Friend is located, said the petition will assist with the town’s bylaw review.

“I myself have two rescue cats adopted from the OSPCA,” he said. “Unfortunately, some of the animals at the OSPCA have been bought at pet stores as an impulse purchase. A decision to adopt a pet from the OSPCA, not a pet store, is the right decision for pet ownership.”

Parnian said Ellibys Puppies in Quebec was her top breeder.

Company spokesperson Sybille Brochu told YorkRegion.com in 2016 that she disagrees with banning animal sales in pet stores.

It will just encourage backyard breeders who are not inspected, she said, adding a better approach would be to follow the lead of some U.S. states where pet stores are required to keep logbooks recording puppies’ history and breeder phone numbers.

Sheppard says she will continue to fight for stricter rules, not just in Newmarket, but across the province.

“This is [Elif Parnian’s] business and it is allowed in Newmarket. She  isn’t doing anything wrong -- although she is in the grand scheme of things.”

Sheppard worries that when the rules are changed in Newmarket, the store will move to another unregulated municipality.

Goverde hopes that municipality won’t be her hometown of Aurora.

Aurora also does not have a bylaw governing pet stores -- but there is a review of bylaws planned in the next few months, and bylaw manager Alexander Wray says the issue will be dealt with then.

“We don’t want to shut businesses down,” says Goverde. “We want to ensure humane treatment of animals and businesses aren’t profiting from cruelty.”

The petition can be found online: https://www.change.org/p/town-of-newmarket-stop-the-sale-of-animals-in-pet-stores-in-newmarket